Working with Beaver Trust to release a family of five beavers to Loch Ard forest
The two adults and three kits have been released into restored wetland habitat, where our staff have created a network of ponds and new native woodland along the riparian corridor of Duchray Water.
Our environment forester, Katy Anderson, said.
“It is an ideal setting to help the new arrivals ease into their new life. The mix of extensive wetlands, wet woodland, and new native woodland – and our little welcoming gift of some piles of freshly cut willow by the water’s edge – should make them feel very much at home.
This release takes the total number of beavers that we’ve translocated to 24 in the past 13 months.
“We have been a key partner in the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland since hosting the RZSS-led Scottish Beaver Trial at Knapdale back in 2009, where beavers were introduced into Loch Coille Bharr and soon moved upstream into Loch Barnluasgan,’ adds Katy.
Our teams have learned a lot since then and are confident that the new arrivals will take to Duchray - a habitat network that has been over 30 years in the making.
The ponds created back in 2006 have already shown to be an ideal habitat when we successfully introduced water voles to the area in 2008.
“It’s an ideal site for the new family and we’re looking forward to them settling in, making their mark on the landscape, and becoming fully integrated into the local ecosystem. It’s great to have them here.”
As beaver kits mature and seek out their own territories, the beaver population is gradually dispersing naturally across suitable areas of the land we manage, a process that underpins the ongoing success of the reintroduction programme.
Beavers arrived at our sites in the Trossachs through natural dispersal almost 10 years ago and Aberfoyle was naturally colonised by dispersing beavers around two years ago. The releases at Loch Ard will help to support and increase this new, naturally expanding population.
Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer, Head of Restoration at Beaver Trust, said:
“We’re really pleased to continue working with Forestry and Land Scotland, moving animals from areas of conflict to locations like Loch Ard. This has only been made possible through our close collaboration with Five Sisters Zoo.
“This will go a long way toward the aim of actively expanding the beaver population into areas where they can bring real environmental benefits as part of Scotland’s National Beaver Strategy.
Beavers are semi-aquatic and prefer deep water, but they will dam shallow streams and ditches to create suitable living conditions where they are protected from predators. Their activities create habitats used by countless species of plants, fungi, fish, invertebrates, amphibians, and mammals for food, shelter, and reproduction.
As well as the existing Beaver populations at Knapdale and at locations in east and central Scotland, we also manage Loch Morlich, which recently saw the Cairngorms National Park Authorities first led release out with existing populations on our land since the beavers were officially protected by law.
We are planning further releases to help support the Scottish Government’s Beaver strategy, which aims to “actively expand the population to new catchments” and is also looking at the suitability of other sites in the north which are suitable for releases.